One of our most influential anthropologists reevaluates her long
and illustrious career by returning to her roots-and the roots of
life as we know it
When Elizabeth Marshall Thomas first arrived in Africa to live
among the Kalahari San, or bushmen, it was 1950, she was nineteen
years old, and these last surviving hunter-gatherers were living as
humans had lived for 15,000 centuries. Thomas wound up writing
about their world in a seminal work, "The Harmless People" (1959).
It has never gone out of print.
Back then, this was uncharted territory and little was known about
our human origins. Today, our beginnings are better understood. And
after a lifetime of interest in the bushmen, Thomas has come to see
that their lifestyle reveals great, hidden truths about human
evolution.
As she displayed in her bestseller, "The Hidden Life of Dogs,"
Thomas has a rare gift for giving voice to the voices we don't
usually listen to, and helps us see the path that we have taken in
our human journey. In "The Old Way," she shows how the skills and
customs of the hunter-gatherer share much in common with the
survival tactics of our animal predecessors. And since it is
"knowledge, not objects, that endure" over time, Thomas vividly
brings us to see how linked we are to our origins in the animal
kingdom. "The Old Way" is a rare and remarkable achievement, sure
to stir up controversy, and worthy of celebration.